TV Ban, Flu Stats and Election Fever
California regulators move to ban plasma screen TVs.
Media reports offer tips for avoiding exposure to the H1N1 strain of influenza.
Pundits speculate on whether Tuesday’s off-year elections will boost the prospects of the Republican party.
Listen to LibertyWeek, the CEI podcast, here.
1. CONSUMER
California regulators move to ban plasma screen TVs.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Energy Policy Analyst William Yeatman on the thinking behind the ban:
“The commission’s TV standards are part of California’s 30-year war on energy consumption, which has influenced the appliance, automobile and housing markets, among others. To hear California politicians tell it, the Golden State’s energy efficiency policies have been an enormous success. As ‘proof,’ they often note that the average Californian consumes 40 percent less electricity than the average American. However, this is a misleading claim, because there are many factors besides energy efficiency standards that have resulted in California’s relatively low per capita electricity consumption, including the state’s mild climate, urbanization and high household density.”
2. HEALTH
Media reports offer tips for avoiding exposure to the H1N1 strain of influenza.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: Adjunct Analyst Michael Fumento on the latest flu statistics:
“The Flu Count Website shows 1,200 U.S. deaths since the early April outbreak according to media reports. Worldwide it shows only 7,000. (Unfortunately, the site also says it provides official CDC numbers, though I verified that it does not.) That’s about the number the CDC estimates who die of seasonal flu every five days during season and worldwide the number who die of seasonal flu every seven days. On campuses cases rose last week by a third according to the American College Health Association, but the number of cases per student isn’t dramatically higher than it was in the second week of September.”
3. POLITICS
Pundits speculate on whether Tuesday’s off-year elections will boost the prospects of the Republican party.
CEI Expert Available to Comment: President Fred L. Smith, Jr. on what Republicans should be focusing on going forward:
“Republicans must reject the ‘do something by expanding government’ approach. Americans want solutions, not more bureaucracy. They have always had doubts about ‘big’ institutions. Republicans should be critical of subsidized Big Business. However, they should also realize that the biggest institutions are not economic, but political. Republicans should make it clear that ‘doing something’ about the problems we face often means government doing less.”
Listen to LibertyWeek, the CEI podcast, here.